Tag: asheville

Cat Fly Indie Film Festival returned for its 2nd annual event over the weekend of April 6th to 8th where short films from across the Southeast were showcased in a non-competitive, networking atmosphere in some of Asheville’s best venues.

Opening night was a red carpet affair at the Asheville Masonic Temple with catered hors d’oeuvres, photos by the step and repeat, and a selected program of dramatic narrative shorts including SIDES by Trust Fall Productions, FAKE EMMA by All Around Artsy, SHOWER by dUMB, and the 48 Hour Film Project favorite CUDDLED.

Community night was hosted at The Mothlight in West Asheville where Cat Fly played works focused on experimental elements, in addition to traditional genres like horror shorts and music videos. UNBEARING by Jennifer Trudrung and Aiden Weaver was a highlight. DALLAS music video by dUMB won the audience choice award, but CROAK by Matt Barrett of Calamity Effects won the crowd reaction.

Day 2 of our weekend festival!
Photography by Joe Pellegrino and Joe Naylor

Closing night of Cat Fly was held at Grail Moviehouse with a focus on documentary storytelling. The audience choice award was received by Michael Arcos for THIS MY FAVORITE MURAL. I was personally lucky enough to win a gift certificate for studio space at the Asheville School of Film, one of Cat Fly’s amazing sponsors.

While the main events were incredible, Cat Fly also featured two workshops, one examining the relationship between music and film, while the other reflected on failure in art, and the steps necessary keep sets safe. Sunday morning also had Andie Morgenlander, filmmaker behind POLISHED, lead a session of Cat Fly yoga. Festival founders Brittany Jackson, Madeleine Richardson, and Cat Wityk outdid themselves in what I hope becomes a tradition for the Asheville film community.

Cat Fly Film Festival is preparing for its second annual event over the weekend of April 6-8th. Another incredible lineup of narrative short films and documentaries, all created by filmmakers in the Southeast, have been selected to screen at three exceptional venues in Asheville. Tickets are on sale now, and they do sell out!

I don’t have any shorts that I personally spearheaded in the lineup this year, though I was an Associate Producer and Sound Recordist on SIDES by Will Osigian and Trust Fall Productions. I am also assisting the festival’s directors– Brittany Jackson, Madeleine Richardson, and Cat Wityk– in an administrative capacity where I help plan the event and logistics in Cat Fly’s new status as a Nonprofit organization.

AS ONE FLESH is now listed on IMDb, one of my main goals for the project. The short is currently under consideration at a number of regional and national film festivals, which I hope to be able to announce soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

AS ONE FLESH is a psychological horror short written and directed by J.W. Naylor, Madeleine Richardson as Director of Photography, with an original soundtrack by Tony Mozz, and produced by myself. The film stars Jeff Alexander, Victoria Rae, Franklin Lovingood, and James Martin. It was created entirely in Asheville, NC.

After Nic’s marriage falls apart, he seeks solace in the faith he once lost. The film premiered at Cat Fly Halloween Film Fest in Asheville, NC on October 13th to a sold out audience. Find the short film at Artificial Ink and embedded below via Vimeo:

AS ONE FLESH is the horror short film that I produced over the summer, which was written and directed by J.W. Naylor, starring Jeff Alexander, Victoria Rae, Franklin Lovingood, and James Martin. Although the short film recently premiered at Cat Fly Halloween in Asheville, North Carolina on October 13th, we are now prepping to submit the film to other festivals, both domestic and international.

The film will also be available for online streaming within the next few weeks. When wading through the festival circuit, I believe it is always helpful to attach an attractive and engaging poster to submissions. Vincent Secary provided art and design on the poster for AS ONE FLESH. Find it embedded below via Instagram.

Cat Fly Halloween was held on Friday, October 13th at UpCountry Brewing in West Asheville, North Carolina. The event sold out days in advance, and was a wonderful follow up to last spring’s inaugural Cat Fly Indie Film Festival, which was founded and curated by Brittany Jackson, Madeleine Richardson, and Cat Wityk. UpCountry Brewing hosted the screening in their tasting room, and provided a special craft beer for the event, the Cat Fly Witches Brew, a blonde ale infused with cinnamon.

These photos are from the step-and-repeat at the entrance of Cat Fly Halloween. Feel free to tag yourself and your friends and share around!

One of the films that I recently produced, AS ONE FLESH, played with an array of other horror and thriller shorts from across North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and the Southeast region. Additional cast and crew also attended, such as writer and director Joe Naylor, cinematographer Madeleine Richardson, lead actor Jeff Alexander, supporting actors Franklin Lovingood and James Martin, soundtrack composer and sound engineer Tony Mozz, lighting tech Brittany Jackson, editor Thomas Goddard, and makeup artist Ashton Helton, just to name a few, many of whom were also volunteers or programming staff for Cat Fly. I couldn’t have been more excited to share the night with such an awesome gathering of filmmakers.

SIDES by Trust Fall Productions received a write up by Ali Marshall in the Asheville local news outlet Mountain Xpress. The short is available to watch online in the linked article. SIDES was directed by Will Osigian, produced by Ryan Hand, and stars Jeff Alexander and Drez Ryan as two best friends on opposite sides of the Civil War. I was an Associate Producer, and Sound Recordist during production, which occurred at 5am in the early morning on the 4th of July, 2017, choosing to celebrate Independence Day our way by creating a timely American narrative.

We are so excited to be on Mountain Xpress! If you haven’t seen Sides yet, check it out!!!

Cat Fly Indie Film Fest returns for the Cat Fly Halloween event on Friday, October 13th at UpCountry Brewing in West Asheville, North Carolina. Tickets are currently on sale, so be sure to snatch yours up in advance, because they are sure to sell out. Watch the trailer for the upcoming horror film event embedded below.

I’m excited to announce that AS ONE FLESH, the short film I recently produced, will premiere at the event. The film was written, directed and edited by Joe Naylor, starring Jeff Alexander, Victoria Rae, Franklin Lovingood and James Martin, with an original score and sound mixing by Tony Mozz. It’s a fun demented mess of a movie, and I can’t wait for a live audience to watch its first time on screen.

Cat Fly Film Festival is returning on Friday, October 13th for a special Halloween screening event! For one night only, Cat Fly will be screening recent horror and thriller short films from the best independent filmmakers in the Southeast region! The location of the event will be officially announced within the next few weeks.

Submissions are open through October 1st, currently underway via FilmFreeway. I’m planning to play AS ONE FLESH, the horror short I produced which was written and directed by Joe Naylor, and stars local acting talent Jeff Alexander, Victoria Rae, Franklin Lovingood, and James Martin. Cat Fly founders Brittany Jackson, Madeleine Richardson, and Cat Wityk were all involved on set, so it should be a shoe-in for the schedule, providing post production is completed in time.

Early in the morning of July 4th, with a call time of 5am, Brittany Jackson and I celebrated Independence Day in an unusual way by joining Trust Fall Productions on the shoot of their upcoming short film SIDES, which was directed by Will Osigian, produced by Ryan Hand, and starred best friends Jeff Alexander and Drez Ryan.

A post shared by TrustFallProductions (@trustfallprod) on Jul 4, 2017 at 1:27pm PDT

SIDES tells the story of two soldiers, Charles and Jim, who serve on opposing forces of the Civil War, despite their history of friendship. In a moment of respite from battle, Charles and Jim catch up by creekside, and chat like a single day hasn’t passed. Though Charles suggests he’s fighting for the states’ right to choose, Jim explains that Black Americans like him are fighting for the right to have rights.

Jeff and Drez work together quite often, particularly in Team Cat Fly’s recent entry in the 48 Hour Film Project entitled IT’S MY PARTY, and the Asheville based web-series WHEN FACT MET FICTION, but always relish the opportunity to do so again. Both were recently cast in the upcoming MR. MERCEDES TV series, starring Mary Louise Parker (WEEDS), based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

I was a sound recordist on this shoot, and operated the boom pole while Brittany managed the recording levels on Drez’s lavalier microphone. We also assisted with a blood splatter sequence per the video above, but allowed opportunity to adjust elements in post-production with green screen technology as a contingency plan.

A post shared by TrustFallProductions (@trustfallprod) on Jun 30, 2017 at 3:32pm PDT

SIDES is currently in post-production, and going through the initial round of edits with an expected total runtime of 4 minutes, allowing for plenty of programming possibility at festivals all around the country, especially with a subject matter so topical in contemporary conversation, despite its historical setting. All the best stories use allegory like that to relay messages pertaining to modern social issues.